Exchange 2010 Lab: Things I've Learned So Far

This month, I've been trying to concentrate on working on my test lab for Exchange 2010.  I've done a lot of reading about Exchange 2010, but now is the time where the rubber hits the road and I can start seeing what I've been reading actually means in practice.  Also, this gives me a reason to start paying attention to PowerShell, since I've have little need for it so far and I know I need to start learning it!

I did a pretty standard, "out of the box" installation of Exchange for this first test and I was having a problem moving mailboxes and creating databases.  If you are already a member of the Organization and Recipent Management groups in AD, then you might need to rerun the "setup.exe /PrepareAD" command to reapply the permissions. 

Yes,  the PrepareAD switch is run when you do the standard install.  And yes, even when I manually checked all the permissions they looked fine.  However, rerunning /PrepareAD solved my issues. Want to read more about Exchange Trusted Subsystem permissions and how they fit in?  Go here, to Richard's Exchange Ramblings on TechNet Blogs.

And for a little useful PowerShell, here's how to find the versions of Exchange you have installed in the entire organization:
Get-ExchangeServer | Format-Table Name, *Version*
For reference, all build numbers listed in this KB Article - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/158530

Finally, if you've been tweaking the Rentention Policies and want to kick off the Managed Folder Assistant immediately to see if your policies work for a particular user, here's the PowerShell for that too.
Start-ManagedFolderAssistant -Identity *MailboxOrMailUserIdParameter*
The full explanation of that command can be found here.

IT Pros and Plastic: Being a Better Steward for the Environment

Last week for some of my “pleasure” reading, I read “Plastic: A Toxic Love Story”, by Susan Freinkel.  It was a pretty enlightening read and you might be wondering how this topic applies to you as an IT Professional.  I know we spend a lot of time dealing with intangible things in IT.  Virtual machines, the “Cloud”, bits and bytes and software and the physical things always seemed very metal-centric – we even talk about installing things from “bare metal”.

But if you stop and look around for just a moment – it’s probably more plastic than anything else.  Where are you reading this post from?  Your desk?  Your keyboard and monitor are plastic, your desk is probably even mostly plastic.  Your laptop is mostly plastic, or if you are using an e-reader it’s plastic too.  Just about any mobile device is in a plastic case these days.  You might be surrounding by CDs/DVDs and their cases – plastic.  Network cables – coated in plastic. Those swag items you have from that last conference – probably 99% plastic.

As IT Professionals, we rule a world of plastic.  And we need to be better stewards of the plastic that is in our control.  It’s so easy to see many of those plastic items as “throw away” – they’ve been designed that way.  Cheap swag pens, demo CDs, mobile devices replaced annually with the newest model, the list is pretty endless once you start looking around.  But really, plastic is for all practical purposes, forever.

So where to being?  First, take advantage of e-waste recycling programs that are in your area. Make sure that the electronic items that are no longer in use in your office have the best opportunity to be repurposed.  Second, consider your inventories of tech related “consumables” – make sure you are only buying what you need, so that items that have a shorter shelf-life don’t go into the trash unused.  Printer cartridges and smaller capacity storage media are things that come to mind.

Third, think about what you are buying for yourself and your family when it comes to popular consumer items.  I’m not saying you should deny yourself a new iPod or a better smart phone.  But think about options for your older devices before they languish in the back of your closet – many organizations take working cell phones to be given to abuse victims, and while you might not want last year’s iPod, someone shopping at Goodwill or some other thrift store might.

As I finished up my reading on my first generation Kindle, I realized that even though some of the newer models are sleeker and faster, what I have is probably good for now.

Bing and It's Done. For Real.

I've been dreading planning some summer travel. Or more specifically finding reasonable flights for summer travel.  I spent the last several weeks checking some travel websites and have been frustrated with the prices - Would they go down?  Should I just buy them and be done with it?  Will I be kicking myself for not waiting another week or day or be annoyed that I waited to long?

It was suggested that I check out bing.com for travel.  Now I can't say that I use Bing much for my regular Internet searches.  I've used Google since the beginning of time and I'm comfortable with it for what I usually need.  But hey, Bing is the "decision engine" and I wasn't getting anywhere fast with my ticket search otherwise.  It was worth a shot.

And then it was mission accomplished. Bing. Done. Wow.

To be fair, the search results are powered by kayak.com, and I've used Kayak directly in the past but it never struck me as any better than Expedia, which had been my go-to travel site for years.  (Like my use of Google, old habits die hard.)  Though often, I'd find the flight on Expedia and then book it directly from the carrier to elimate the middle man, especially since I don't often need travel packages.

With Bing you have all the features where you can customize your results based on number of stops, the travel times, red-eye or not, etc and you can look for hotels and other deals as well.  Once you select your flight, Bing redirects you to the carrier so you can complete the purchasing process directly.  From the main functionality standpoint, most flight search sites hand you the same base features and Bing doesn't disappoint.

The big selling point was the prominance of the price predictor and the fare history.  This is where the "decision" with booking flights comes into play.  This was the cleanest presentation of the where prices had been and where they might be going - it was the perfect stock ticker for travel. 

Perhaps I just got lucky but according to those tools, I was finally hitting the right time.  Ticket prices were the lowest they'd been in about 4 weeks and would likely go higher - I finally had the information I needed to move forward and put my money on the line.

Now I can check that off my list and you can be sure I'll use Bing for travel again in future. I guess everyone can learn a new trick now and then.

Summertime Tech

And with that, the summer season is upon us!  There’s always something to attend when it comes to technology, so don’t miss out some great upcoming events:

As always, PacITPros has regular monthly meetings in San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Check out the website at www.pacitpros.org for meeting dates and locations.

Also in Los Angeles in July, don’t miss a free TechDays event featuring Stephen Rose and Windows Deployment from ACT to ZTI. Register now to reserve you spot!

Don’t forget that tomorrow is World IPv6 Day.  Learn more about what to expect and how to take part in it if your organization is already implementing IPv6.

Are you one of those developer types?  Be sure to check out the SoCal Code Camp happening later this month in San Diego.

Finally, are you an ImageRight user?  Start planning now for the Vertafore Connections Conference, taking place in Atlanta in mid-September.

Exchange 2010 on the Horizon

I started this week and hopefully I'll get to spend more time next week working on my lab for migrating from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010.   Today I'm using the Exchange Server Deployment Assistant, which asks a few questions about your environment and then generates a checklist of things for you to check and do as you move through the installation process.

I'm also hoping to find some time to run the Exchange Pre-Deployment Analyzer in my production environment and see if that give me some good news.

Happy Friday Everyone!